Preparing for Suffering

Five days ago Omar Mir Siddique Mateen walked into the Pulse Bar in Orlando and killed 49 people. Not one went to that bar last weekend thinking, “I’m going to die tonight”

Imagine that your brother, your sister, your friend, your classmate, or your next-door neighbor were among those killed. How would you respond?

We rightly shrink in horror from that heinous crime.

But in the four days since the Orlando terrorist attack, about 170 other people have been murdered in the US; about 6400 have died of cancer, about 6700 of heart disease; about 100 were killed by drunk drivers.

Then on Tuesday, also in Orlando, two-year-old Lane Davis was dragged underwater by an alligator and drowned. Lane’s father, wading into the water, didn’t have an inkling that there was any danger to the boy.

Imagine that Lane was your brother, your nephew, your grandson, or your son. How would you respond?

In the days since that tragedy, approximately another 200 little boys and girls under five years of age have died in the US.

In this rich and predominantly peaceful country, we can live under the illusion that death is something strange, something unusual – something we can avoid, we can put off indefinitely if we drive carefully, eat well, and exercise diligently.

But death is all around us. Tragedies happen. All the time.

Furthermore, in the years ahead, unless Jesus returns in the next few decades, every one of us will die. Some will know they are dying. Some won’t. Some will die swiftly and painlessly. Others will die horribly. But we will all face death. It is certain.

So shouldn’t we prepare for it? Shouldn’t we learn how to approach the tragedies that will undoubtedly come in this life – so that we will be prepared both to help others in the midst of such crises, and to endure them biblically ourselves?

This Sunday we begin a short sermon series on the book of Job. We have been making our way through Paul’s letter to the Romans for more than a year, and still have much to cover in that great epistle. We’ve come to one of the best-known verses in all of Scripture:

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 NAS

What a promise! What comfort! And how great is the God who can make such a promise!

And yet, a dear friend who had recently suffered horrible tragedy once told me, “If one more person quotes Romans 8:28 to me, I’m going to kill him!”

What led others to misuse this great verse, so that it was not a comfort but a barb?

I believe the problem was a lack of understanding of the lessons of the book of Job – lessons that the Apostle Paul knew well, indeed, that he assumes the readers of Romans know.

In Job, we see a good man – kind, generous, loving, dutiful, pious, and upright – lose his goods, lose his children, and lose his health, all in a few days. Then his friends come and make matters worse. Buffeted by all this tragedy, Job deeply questions the goodness and justice of God.

In this book we learn about some of the causes of pain and suffering in this life; we learn of the hatred of our enemy, Satan; we learn of the majesty and sovereignty of God, even over Satan; we learn some of God’s purposes, as well as the nature of genuine faith.

So through this book, we can gain a solid and necessary foundation for understanding Romans 8:28 and following.

Through this book we can become genuine comforters, instead of the “miserable comforters” (Job 16:2) who tormented Job and my friend.

And through this book, we can prepare for the tragedies that undoubtedly await us in the years ahead.

So join us. And may God’s Word build us up and equip us, so that in the day of trouble we might look to Him in the full confidence of faith.

God’s Hand At Work

How does God work in our lives? How does He bring us to Himself?

Sometimes He works through a Damascus-road experience: Suddenly, in an instant, an enemy of Jesus becomes His follower (Acts 9).

Other times the work is slow and painful. There are steps forward. Then steps backward.

One such case is Jacob’s first wife, Leah.

Remember the story: Jacob flees from his brother Esau, who wants to kill him for tricking him out of his birthright and his father’s blessing.

Jacob leaves home, using the pretense of going to find a wife from among his relatives in order to get his father’s blessing for the journey. But when he meets his cousin Rachel, he sheds the pretense. This is the girl he must marry!

He agrees with Rachel’s father Laban that he will work seven years for her. When the time is complete, in the dark of the wedding night, Laban sends Rachel’s older sister Leah into Jacob’s tent. In the morning, Laban tells the irate Jacob that he can marry Rachel also the following week – if he will agree to work another seven years.

In this culture, children are vital and sons are especially important. Sons will provide security for their parents in their old age, and will inherit and manage the property. A wife who bears many children – particularly many sons – is highly honored. A wife who does not bear children is in danger of being replaced.

Leah clearly enters this marriage unwanted and unloved. But then, “The Lord opened Leah’s womb” (Genesis 29:31). She bears four sons in short order. Their names tell us what is going on inside Leah’s head.

First, she gives birth to Reuben – meaning, “See? A son!” – saying “Because the LORD has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me” (Genesis 29:32).

What does this tell us about Leah? What does she want more than anything else? She wants her husband to love her!

In the booklet, “Marriage: Whose Dream?” Paul Tripp tells the story of a woman he was counseling:

I once was talking with a lady who had been married many years.

She was married to a person who, very honestly, I would have to say was a bad man. He was angry, controlling, and manipulative. He said and did hurtful things. She had dreamed of the ultimate husband, but she certainly hadn’t gotten him. Now she was so embittered by the blessings other women in her church enjoyed that she said she could no longer go to worship. She felt as if God had forsaken her, so much so that she couldn’t read her Bible or pray.

As I listened, I wanted her to understand her identity in Christ. I wanted her to know the love of the Lord; that God is a refuge and strength, an ever‑present help in trouble. So I started reading her passages that spoke of the amazing, abundant love of God, and in the middle of a verse she said, “Stop! Don’t tell me again that God loves me. I want a husband who loves me!”

And she pounded her fist on her chair as she said it.

That woman is seeking God’s gifts, rather than God Himself.

She doesn’t want God’s love. She wants God to provide her with a husband to love her.

Do you see how that is demeaning to God?

God becomes the genie whose gifts give us delight. His presence is not fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11). Rather, His gifts are fullness of joy.

Isn’t this the case with Leah? She acknowledges God’s hand in giving her a son, and that’s good – as far as it goes. But she does not treasure God. In essence, she doesn’t even treasure the son God has given her. She treasures her husband’s withheld love. And so she’s miserable.

Leah bears two more sons and it doesn’t get any better:

She conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Because the LORD has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son also.” And she called his name Simeon. Again she conceived and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore his name was called Levi. (Genesis 29:33-34)

That attachment doesn’t happen. Sons do not produce the love from Jacob Leah so desires

But finally, with her fourth son, we see a different Leah:

And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” Therefore she called his name Judah. (Genesis 29:35)

Do you see the difference? She does not see this child as a tool by which she will achieve her desires. Instead, she simply praises God for what He has given.

So ask yourself:

  • Are you more like Leah after the birth of Reuben, or Leah after the birth of Judah?
  • Are you excited about what God’s gifts will enable you to enjoy?
  • Or are you first and foremost simply thankful to God for His gracious gifts?

Unfortunately, Leah does not live day by day in a state of praising God. But at least after the birth of Judah, Leah shows us how to respond to God’s gifts. This is one step to becoming a man or woman of God: Acknowledging God as the source of all that is good in our lives, and praising Him for it.

Not pining after what we don’t have, but rejoicing in the God who is working together all things together for our good and His glory.

For God is behind all that happens – in this story and in our lives. He is behind Leah’s pregnancies. He is behind Rachel’s barrenness.

He is in control.

But like us, those in the midst of the story have a hard time seeing His hand at work.

William Cowper wrote these wise words about such times:

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill,
He treasures up his bright designs,
And works his sovereign will. . . .

Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain;
God is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain.

God moves in His mysterious ways Leah’s life. By God’s grace, she is becoming a woman of God.

The next paragraphs show us Leah still has a long ways to go. Hers is not a Damascus Road experience.

But God in His wisdom is at work, via a long, slow process. Leah has taken an important step.

So consider those you love. Those you have witnessed to – both those who have not come to faith, and those who have professed faith but seem stalled, seem to be floundering.

God moves in mysterious ways. Pray for the sovereign God to continue the process, to guard these loved ones from hardening of heart or making shipwreck of their faith. Trust in His sovereign hand to work all things together for the good of His people – including you! – and the glory of His Name. And then play your role – your role in the sovereign plan of God – so that you yourself might be one of the mysterious ways that God makes your loved one a man or woman of God.

So check, first, your heart: Is God your treasure?

Second, check your faith: Do you trust God is at work?

Third, check your actions: Pray, and consider: What would God have me do in the lives of these I love?

(Parts of this devotion were taken from a sermon, “The Making of a Man of God” on Genesis 29:31-31:55, preached August 29, 2004. Both text and audio of that sermon are available.)

How Sovereign is God?

How sovereign is God?

That is: What does God control through His sovereign will?

Scripture tells us:

  • Even the tiniest bird doesn’t die apart from His hand (Matthew 10:29)
  • You don’t even lose a hair from your head apart from His knowledge and will (Matthew 10:30)
  • He controls the moon and what we now know are trillions of stars in millions of galaxies (Psalm 8:3)
  • But He also keeps a man from having sex with a woman in his harem (Genesis 20:2-4)
  • He performs mighty deeds, obvious miracles, like parting the waters of the Red Sea so that the Israelites can pass through on dry ground (Exodus 14)
  • but He also speaks in a still, small voice to bring about His purposes (1 Kings 19:11-12).

God controls all things – major and minor, intergalactic and microbial, global and personal.

He works all things according to the counsel of his will (Ephesians 1:11).

Specifically, He controls the desires of the most powerful of men:

Proverbs 21:1 The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever he will.

Daniel 4 gives us a specific example of such turning. Nebuchadnezzar, king of the mighty Babylonian empire, the greatest ruler of his day, Is surveying his city, delighting in his power and accomplishments. While the king is boasting in his pride, God turns not only his heart but also his mind – Nebuchadnezzar becomes mad, and acts like an animal until he acknowledges “that the most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will” (Daniel 4:32). In other words: Nebuchadnezzar will remain crazy until he knows that he deserves nothing. He is emperor by God’s grace, not because of His breeding or intelligence or military prowess.

Nebuchadnezzar does come to his senses. He recognizes God’s sovereign power and praises Him:

Daniel 4:37  Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.

So, the Bible claims that God is that sovereign. He controls all things – even kings’ hearts, even generals’ hearts, even presidents’ hearts.

Do you believe that?

Have you come to acknowledge what Nebuchadnezzar had to be forced to acknowledge?

We are beginning a series on the book of Esther. This book is unusual: It is the only book in the Bible that never mentions God explicitly. God is not the stated subject of any sentence.

Partly for this reason, some have questioned: Should Esther really be a part of Scripture? Shouldn’t every book in the Bible actually mention God? Is this just a book about Jewish nationalism?

Indeed, such were the questions that early church leaders wrote commentaries on every other book of the Bible prior to writing a commentary on Esther. The earliest known Christian commentary dates from around the year 700.

But although God is not mentioned, He is present in all that happens – in every event recorded in the book. In Esther, God acts providentially – that is, He works behind the scenes. So at the time, it’s rarely clear that He Himself is actually acting. But by the end of the story, it is abundantly clear that only God could have orchestrated all the recorded incidents to bring about the salvation of His people.

Now, consider our own era. Isn’t it much like the time of Esther?

  • Like Esther and Mordecai, we are recipients of great, precious, ancient promises. But, like them, we don’t know how those promises apply to us specifically.
  • Like Esther and Mordecai, we are faced with dangers, with ambiguities, with a lack of an obviously right choice – and yet we must act. We must make decisions.
  • Like Esther and Mordecai, we don’t see God parting the Red Sea or sending fire down from heaven to consume an offering; we don’t hear God speak from Mt Sinai or witness Jesus walking on water or risen from the dead. Like them, we must walk by faith, not by sight.

So the characters in this book face situations much like ours. Esther is thus highly valuable to us.

The fundamental message in Esther is this:

God is sovereignly working out His grand plan of redemption for the glory of His Name, through all events that happen.

In this book we see multiple examples of God at work, often in seemingly minor and personal matters. But in the end, through these small acts of providence, God saves His covenant people from genocide.

The lesson for us must be: God continues today to work sovereignly, even through minor events in our lives, to bring about His good, perfect, and pleasing will.

So if we belong to Him, we can step out with great confidence, praying that God will use us no matter how great our past sins, no matter how bumbling our efforts. We cannot mess up God’s plan.

For as the Apostle Paul tells us, God works all things together for good for those who love Him, for those whom He has called. And if we are in Christ, nothing can ever separate us from His love (Romans 8:28, 37-39).

[This devotion is taken from the introduction to last Sunday’s opening sermon in the series Esther: The Miracle of Providence. Follow the link to download or listen to the audio of the sermon.]

 

Sovereignty and Evil in an Iranian Prison

A ravaging tornado destroys entire neighborhoods and kills dozens, including many children. A government agency abuses power by singling out certain political viewpoints for invasive questioning. One country in the Middle East falls further and further into chaos, while another moves closer and closer to building nuclear weapons.

Where in the world is God? Is He really in control? Does He care?

Scripture assures us that “our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases” (Psalm 115:3). So how do tornadoes and government corruption and political chaos and the threat of nuclear terrorism please God?

Consider these questions in light of a recent book, Captive in Iran by Maryam Rostampour and Marziyeh Amirizadeh. These two friends came to Christ, and were active in distributing Bible and sharing their faith with anyone who might ask. Eventually they were arrested.

Fearful and suffering, they do not know what they might encounter in the hellhole of the notorious Evin prison. But what they find is many hurting people who are willing to hear Jesus’ story and their story:

We were in the best place we’d ever been for witnessing to people hungry for the gospel of Jesus. The living conditions weren’t very good, but we didn’t have to deal with travel and traffic! And we could tell our fellow prisoners the story of Jesus openly because no one would come into this rat hole to spy on us. (647 – the numbers after each quotation are Kindle locations)

Our conversation with [a prisoner] was another reminder of how God had moved us on from what we thought we should be doing to what He wanted us to do. We had hosted two home churches and distributed twenty thousand Farsi New Testaments, evangelizing while avoiding the regime. It was a slow process. Now that we were in prison, we could talk openly about our faith. Whereas before we had searched for people to speak to, now they came looking for us: “Go see the Christian girls!” The very prison system that tried to silence us was now our megaphone. (2843)

Even some of the guards seek out their prayers:

“I’m tired of working here,” [one guard] admitted. “I don’t think I’m cut out for it. Would you pray for me?” “I will be happy to.” And so I prayed for my captor, secure in the presence of the Lord that washed over me in waves, in the deepest recesses of the most feared ward of the most notorious prison in one of the most oppressed nations of the world. Surely I had never felt more blessed. (2498)

Uncharged, they are kept in prison for many months. Finally they appear before a judge, facing the charge of apostasy – which can lead to execution. The judge asks:

Miss Amirizadeh, are you a Christian? Are you called to follow Jesus? Explain to me what you mean by that.” As the questions hung in the air, I felt chills run up and down my body. They were the same questions, asked the same way, I had been asked during my baptism ceremony. . . . Today, October 7, was the four-year anniversary of that day. . . . The first time I was asked the questions, I was free, happy, and surrounded by friends. Now I’m under the threat of death. God is asking, “Are you still a Christian?” The path to Christ is never the easy way. As Jesus said to His disciples in Mark 8:34, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Today I renewed the promise I made to God on this date years ago. I promise to take up my cross and follow Christ. I want to die for God. I will follow Him forever. Sometimes God puts us in a difficult situation and tries us. This is the real test. “When you are in fear, will you still be true?” I decided in court to follow God even if it kills me. (3719)

After an international outcry leads Iranian authorities to look for a way to release the women while saving face, the chief prosecutor assures them he is on their side and is willing to help them, if they will negotiate with him. Maryam answers:

“I sincerely thank you for your kindness . . . but my trust and reliance are with God. I believe it is the Lord’s will that Marziyeh and I should be in prison, and that our freedom lies in His hands alone. If the Lord wishes to release us, no one can stand in His way. Of course, we don’t like staying in prison and we would rather be free, but we prefer to wait for the Lord’s decision on the matter.” (3905)

They are released, without apologizing for anything they have done.  God showed His sovereignty and His faithfulness to these two brave women.

In the case of Maryam and Marziyeh, we see the end result; God did indeed use even the evil acts of evil men to bring about His good purposes. Their faith was strengthened; the Gospel spread to some of the most downtrodden in Iranian society. But remember: When the authorities first threw them in prison, they had no idea how God was acting. They faced the possibility of death time and again. Others in similar situations had died.

As these two women clearly say, God’s sovereignty does not imply that we will have easy lives. It does not imply that God will get us out of every difficult and dangerous situation.

Rather: Our God is in the heavens, doing all that He pleases. We will face confusing, dangerous, and difficult times. Sometimes in retrospect – as in this case – we see how He worked for good in the midst of danger; often we do not. But Scripture assures us: He is at work. So we are to live by faith and not by sight.

He is sovereign. Trust Him with your life.

Moe Bergeron, DGCC, Faithfulness, and the Kingdom

Don’t miss this excellent video from Desiring God about the beginning of the DG internet ministry. The video features my friend Moe Bergeron, a bi-vocational pastor in New England. It is not far-fetched to say that were it not for Moe, there would be no Desiring God Community Church in Charlotte.

Moe began posting Pipers Notes on the fledgling internet in 1995. Very shortly thereafter I found the site via some early search engine. I had never read anything by John Piper before. My brother-in-law Ed, however, had been extolling Piper so I recognized the name. I found his sermons exceptionally helpful, and returned regularly to see if Piper had preached on passages I was about to tackle.

At the time, Moe organized the sermons only by date. There was no index by Scripture passage, limiting its usefulness to me. So I contacted Moe and asked him if someone was working on such an index. He said a few folks had approached him indicating they might produce one, but no one had actually done it. I completed it over the next couple of weeks. Moe was surprised and delighted. He and I continued a correspondence, and we met a few times in the late 90s at conferences in New England. We immediately clicked, finding a real kinship in the God-centered Gospel.

Then, in 2000, after becoming certain that our Lord was calling me into full-time ministry, I wrote Bethlehem Baptist, asking if I might spend 3 months at the church in preparation. No one at Bethlehem knew me; nevertheless, they said yes. I later learned that it was my work on the Pipers Notes Scripture index that proved I was not just some random person trying to get close to an increasingly well-known preacher, but already was part of this God-centered movement.

So I thank God for Moe Bergeron, his vision for free resources on the internet, his boldness in approaching Piper, and his faithfulness to his calling. And I stand amazed at our sovereign God who weaves our lives together into the tapestry of His Kingdom for the glory of His Name.

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Making Decisions to the Glory of God

(For a version of this devotion that is easier to print, follow this link.)

Many people today want guidance. They want a word from God to know:

  • Whom to marry,
  • what job to take,
  • whether or not to buy a house,
  • whether to take money out of the stock market or leave it in.

There are also many decisions considered more “spiritual” in which we want God to lead us:

  • To attend one church or another;
  • to go into long-term missionary work or not;
  • to go into full time ministry or not;
  • to focus on one unreached people group or another;
  • to go on one short term mission trip or another.

Can you count on God’s guidance in making such decisions?

The Bible clearly teaches that God sovereignly calls and guides His people to carry out His plans. We saw a wonderful example of this last Sunday in Acts 15:36-16:15. Paul makes decision after decision about his second missionary journey, fulfilling God’s missionary mandate as best as he can determine; most of his decisions – to take Silas with him, to travel by land to Galatia, to circumcise Timothy, to stop in Philippi, to seek those worshiping God by the river, to stay with Lydia – are made without any noted supernatural direction. But then at times the Holy Spirit supernaturally guides Paul, redirecting him away from Asia and Bithynia (Acts 16:6-7) and towards Macedonia (Acts 16:9).

God does call and guide His people to carry out His plans.

Will He guide you? (more…)

Seven Years On

(For a version of this devotion that is easier to print, follow this link.)

This week marks seven years. Seven years since the towers fell. Seven years since terrorists hijacked four planes, aiming to kill tens of thousands of innocent people. Seven years since they succeeded in killing almost 3,000. Seven years.

In God’s providence, the Bible reading plan I developed eight years ago schedules for the 11th reading in September Jeremiah 39 and 52 – the accounts of the terrible destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 BC. In the following days I read the Psalms that look back on that event – Psalms 74, 79, and 94 – as well as the book of Lamentations. On September 11, 2001, I read of Jerusalem’s fall without much feeling in the morning; that evening, knowing of the attack and the destruction of the towers, I reread the account, and continued to read these psalms and Lamentations – and wept.

Today, much of our visceral reaction to that attack has faded from memory. Newspapers this year used more ink talking about lipstick on pit bulls and pigs than they devoted to remembering 9/11.

But we must remember. We must remember.

What must we remember? (more…)

Sovereignty and Responsbility

In last Sunday’s sermon text, Malachi 1:1-5, God proves His love for the returned Israelite exiles in a strange way. “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother? . . . Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated.” There was nothing to choose between Esau and Jacob. Both were horrible sons; both were disobedient to God; the descendants of both were stiff-necked and rebellious. Both deserve judgment. Both deserve condemnation. Both peoples deserve hell. But God chooses to destroy Esau’s descendants and to love Jacob/Israel and his descendants. This is His sovereign choice. Only because He loves them are they not cut off.
We too need to see ourselves as deserving of hell, as undeserving of His mercy, and thus to bow before Him, asking for that mercy only on the basis of Jesus’ death on the cross. That is the clear message of the passage.

But a question remains: How can God say He hates Esau when God is said to love the world (John 3:16)? Doesn’t God love everyone? Doesn’t God desire all to be saved? (more…)